Trump’s tariffs may mean Walmart shoppers pay more, his treasury chief acknowledges

WASHINGTON AP Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged Sunday that Walmart the largest U S retailer may pass along a few of the costs from President Donald Trump s tariffs to its shoppers through higher prices Bessent described his call with the company s CEO a day after Trump warned Walmart to avoid raising prices from the tariffs at all and vowed to keep a close watch on what it does As doubts persist about Trump s economic leadership Bessent pushed back against inflation concerns praised the uncertainty caused by Trump as a negotiating tactic for commerce talks and dismissed the downgrade Friday of U S administration debt by Moody s Ratings Yet Walmart does not appear prepared to eat the tariffs in full as Trump has insisted the company and China would do Bessent reported he spoke Saturday with Walmart CEO Doug McMillon stressing in two news show interviews that what he thought really mattered for Walmart customers was the decline in gasoline prices Gas is averaging roughly a gallon down from a year ago but also higher over the past week according to AAA Walmart will be absorbing a few of the tariffs particular may get passed on to consumers Bessent commented on CNN Overall I would expect inflation to remain in line But I don t blame consumers for being skittish after what happened to them for years under Biden a reference to inflation hitting a four-decade high in June under then President Joe Biden as the recovery from the pandemic governing body spending and the Russian invasion of Ukraine pushed up costs Walmart did not comment on Bessent s description of his conversation with McMillon In a social media post on Saturday morning Trump mentioned Walmart should not charge its customers more money to offset the new tariff costs I ll be watching and so will your customers he posted Bessent commented Walmart on its earnings call on Thursday had been obligated under federal regulations to give the worst-case scenario so that they re not sued suggesting in an NBC interview that the price increases would not be severe in his view But Walmart executives announced last week that higher prices began to appear on their shelves in late April and accelerated this month We re wired to keep prices low but there s a limit to what we can bear or any retailer for that matter Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey advised The Associated Press on Thursday Bessent maintained that the ratings downgrade was a lagging indicator as the financial markets had already priced in the costs of a total federal debt of roughly trillion Still the tax plan being pushed by Trump would add more roughly trillion to deficits over the next decade including a billion increase in alone according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget The treasury secretary maintained that deficits would not be a challenge because the commercial sector would grow faster than the debt accumulation reducing its increase as a size of the overall economic system Bulk independent analyses are skeptical of the administration s maintains that it can achieve average enhancement as Trump s tax cuts failed to do so Those tax cuts from Trump s first term did boost economic development before the pandemic but they also raised the budget deficit relative to previous estimates by the Congressional Budget Office On tariffs the Trump administration is still trying to determine rates with roughly major trading partners before a July deadline It s also in the early stages of a -day negotiation with China after agreed a week ago to reset tariffs on that country from to so that talks can proceed Bessent reported any worries about tariffs by small business owners majority likely reflected the higher rate previously being charged on China Still the uncertainty has been a major drag for consumers and businesses trying to make spending plans in the weeks months and years ahead Strategic uncertainty is a negotiating tactic Bessent declared So if we were to give too much certainty to the other countries then they would play us in the negotiations Bessent appeared on NBC s Meet the Press and CNN s State of the Union